Listen to past episodes of the Weekly Wrap here or subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher.
And that’s a wrap of the week ending Sept. 11, 2020
This week I’m wrapping this podcast up – at least for now. I’m wondering whether it can ever be as easy to stop things as it is to start them. And I point you toward what’s coming next.
Listen to (or watch) the Weekly Wrap
Our theme this week is stopping. The challenge of success isn’t following the right path. It’s deciding on the new right path once the old one ends. The interesting parts of life are the intersections.
That’s why it’s good to look both ways.
Let’s wrap it up.
Listen to the episode (time stamps apply to audio and video versions):
Watch it, too:
One deep thought: A hard stop
One of the most interesting challenges in content marketing is that, unlike campaigns, platforms that attract audiences must be built over time.
The potential for failure is there. But, because content marketing programs are designed for the long run, deciding to stop them is often a dramatic, painful, political process.
Content marketers can ask better questions: “Do we really need to implement that new blog or resource center into our enterprise CMS system before we launch a prototype and test it?” Or, “Can we redirect creative talent to something cool and innovative instead of more infographics for sales?” Or, “How can we build a production studio approach for testing stories, formats, and audience engagement?”
And brands can take a different approach to decommissioning projects. Yes, canceling something that lasted a decade is an emotional experience for the team. But keeping that failing blog going is the fastest way to never again develop new platforms.
Let’s commit to reassigning talent, reusing storylines, repackaging content, and figuring out how to launch new ideas.
It’s no one’s fault when the story, the platform, or the format stop resonating with audiences (or never get started). As Captain Jean Luc Picard once said in Star Trek: The Next Generation, “You can commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not weakness. That is life.”
The wrap-up
And that’s a wrap of the Weekly Wrap as a podcast. Starting next week, the Weekly Wrap is morphing into something different. Something new. Something well stopped and well started.
And we’d like you to help build it.
As the podcast goes on hold, we transition to a Weekly Wrap blog post featuring content marketing at play in the world.
That’s where you come in. Spot something worth sharing – a great or terrible blog post, an engaging or poorly done video, a social media story, or some news that your content marketing peers should see? If it moves you, move it on over to us. Hashtag us up at #CMWorld.
Every Friday, we’ll share the most interesting pieces in a Weekly Wrap post right here.
Will a blog post be the Weekly Wrap’s final form? Follow along to see where it goes next.
And, while you won’t hear my thoughts each week, you can still read them every week in CMI’s Weekly Alert.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this little show. I sure enjoyed making it. In the meantime, as Simple Minds sang, “Don’t you forget about me …”
And remember, it’s your story. Tell it well.
To listen to past shows, go to the main Weekly Wrap page.
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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute
